Seldom do I use my blog as a platform to jump on my soapbox. Typically, I try to inspire. However, there are times when I also try to provoke thought by presenting an alternative point of view.

A few nights ago, I watched a story on the local, evening news about a robbery and a possible assault in an upscale neighborhood. Both the neighbors AND the reporter were incensed, and even offended, that crime had infiltrated, what the reporter described as a “swanky” community. I found the coverage and commentary perplexing, and frankly, a bit scary. It is asinine, and prideful, that people should expect, and in some cases, desire that crime be marginalized to neighborhoods with lower socioeconomic statuses. There is no community that is impenetrable to crime. There is no community that exists in isolation. In fact, isolationism is the antithesis of personal security and safety, and it typically stems from the most degenerative human vices: pride, greed and hate.

Pride and greed tell us that we can never have enough and that only we alone deserve to have it all. The concept of “survival of the fittest” may work in the animal kingdom, but it is not beneficial for human communities. Here is the problem. When we create skewed supply and demand systems, where only a few are equipped to succeed, we create marginalization. Marginalization oftentimes creates desperation. When people are backed into a corner, and their propensity for success is truncated, they often resort to crime. When we create communities where destitution and desperation is prevalent, we do not get to retreat to our ivory towers, throw up the moat and hope that the insurgents relent. Behaviors and mindsets that are being bred and developed in the adjacent communities will infiltrate.

There are those who will argue that each person is responsible for his or her action and that destiny is determined by an individual’s choice. I would argue that while that argument might be true to some extent, such conjecture is a fallacy. Again, we do not live in isolation. To make the argument of “to each his own” is try to absolve ourselves of our social responsibilities. In society, and in communities, we have a responsibility to more that just our families and ourselves.

I recently read an article about the push to end the free-lunch program. It reminded me of how short-sighted we can sometime be. Oftentimes, budget cuts are targeted at programs that support those who have the biggest need and the smallest voice. I would venture to guess that many of the decision makers are probably far-removed from the desperation that many program recipients face. Here is the honest truth. There will always be those who try to beat the system and slip through the cracks. Cheaters will always exist, and yes, we should have efficient checks and balances in place. However, do we punish those in need for the actions of a few? If the answer of societal obligation is not appealing, then self preservation might strike a cord. When people in these “swanky” communities invests in individuals from disenfranchised communities, crime actually decreases because people then feel as though they have options. When individuals’ options are increased, so is their sense of purpose. When people have viable options, and they have something to live for and to look forward to, they are less likely to jeopardize that by committing crimes. The problem is there are people in our culture that have a pauper’s mentality. They believe that supplies are limited and if shared, might cut into their portion. There are also those who have an even more sinister mentality. Their mentality is one of hatred, which is reflected in their actions. Both of those mentalities have excluded the grace and goodness of God. According to Jeremiah 29:11, God stated that he has a plan to give us hope and a future. God’s plan to prosper us asserts that heaven’s supplies are not limited and are not governed by scarcity.

Ultimately, as earthly cohabitants, we all have a responsibility to take care of each other. If nothing else, at the VERY LEAST, we have a responsibility to ourselves and to our families. Who know, by investing in others, we could very well end up sparing ourselves and our families from being accosted by the career criminal who dropped out of primary school because he couldn’t concentration on his lesson due to hunger-induced confusion. We never know. Life is filled with very many ironies!

But to end it there, I’d be remiss to explain the travesty caused by a ball-clenched fist.

So many of us are straddled by baggage. We don’t always know we have it, but we do. Many of us, in an effort to maintain our daily functionality, bury our hurts in the dark crevices of our hearts. The problem is, just like rain could uproot skeletons buried beneath the Earth’s surface, our tears often reveal our misplaced pain. Many of our buried hurts are sharp, unbeveled deposits just below the surface. They cut and bruise. The friction of some of our deepest hurts have caused calluses in once tender places. Many of the composite effects of our pain is dear. The tighter we clutch, the deeper our scars. During our day-to-day activities, we might not even realize that our grip is so firm until we finally decide to let it go. Only once we have let go the shattered pieces of our lives can we truly begin to heal and experience a freedom that we have not yet experienced….

In the simplest of terms, a covenant is an agreement, a contract or a bond between parties—a binding promise. When a covenant is called into effect, there is an expectation that the agreed upon terms will be enforced. In our legal system, most people go into covenants with the assurance that the legal system will enforce the terms and conditions of the agreement. However, while the law can often guarantee that all parties will abide by the term of the covenant, a level of trust is still required between the parties. Most people do not enter into covenants with people whom they know to be unscrupulous. Most legal covenants are often measures that reasonable people establish to safeguard themselves against unforeseen events. Again, most people enter covenants with the assumption that the opposing party has a certain amount of integrity. This brings me to the point of this blog: God’s covenants.

Number 23:19 says, God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill,” (NIV)? This passage indirectly speaks to the Abrahamic Covenant where God promised Abraham that he would bless the Israelites and Abraham’s family line. In Number 23, Balak wanted Balaam to curse the Israelites, but Balaam replied with, “‘I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it,’”(v. 20, NIV).

God cannot and will not change His mind. He is in covenant with His people. Number 23:19, not only speaks to the nature of God, but it is also a covenant in and of itself. God is saying that his Word is bond. Once he has said it, it is done. Below is an exercise that I challenge all of us to do.

Covenant Agreement Between God and me

This Agreement made this __________ day of ____________20______ by and between _______________ and God.

Standing on the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant, I am believing God for:

_______________________

_______________________

_______________________

_______________________

The Bible verses that I rest my beliefs on are:

_______________________

_______________________

_______________________

_______________________

This agreement encourages us to remind God what He has promised. With that said, we should also remember that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8). There will be times that our prayers go unanswered for reasons we cannot understand, but we should go into agreement with God knowing that He has heard our petitions and that He will answer; and if the answer is not what we expect, it is what God intended because He has deliberate acted. Below are a just a few examples of how God acted on behalf of his people’s prayers.

Prayer for healing:

Hezekiah was on the brink of death and cried out to God to spare his life.

“‘Go and tell Hezekiah, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life,’” (Isaiah 38:5, NIV).

Praying for a Godly partner:

Abraham, though his servant, prayed that God would find a specific wife for Isaac. God led Abraham’s servant to Rebekah. Isaac and Rebekah were later married (Genesis 24: 1-67).

Praying to have children:

Isaac pleaded with the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children. The LORD answered Isaac’s prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins,” (Genesis 25:21, NLT).

Released from jail:

“But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out,” (Acts 5:19).

Financial breakthrough:

“The blessing of the LORD makes a person rich, and he adds no sorrow with it,” (Proverbs 10:22, NLT).

Spiritual breakthrough:

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds,” (2 Corinthians 10:4, NIV).

Fulfillment of God’s promise:

God had given Joseph a dream that he would become a mighty man. However, over the course of time, he was kidnapped, sold into slavery, accused of rape, imprisoned and forgotten. Fortunately, God did not forget about him or the promise that he made to him.

38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?” 39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. 40 You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you,” (Genesis 41:38-40, ESV).

Today, I pray that you remember the covenant agreement that God has made with you and with Abraham. Stand on His Word as you pray for His favor!

Then David asked the Lord, “Should I chase after this band of raiders? Will I catch them?”

And the Lord told him, “Yes, go after them. You will surely recover everything that was taken from you,” (1Samuel 30:8, NLT).

Have you every felt like you’ve done everything right, but you still can’t catch a break? You’ve lived and played by the rules only to conclude that maybe nice guys do finish last. Well, you are not alone. In 1 Samuel 29, David wanted to fight alongside King Achish, but the Philistine commanders rejected David and his army. The Philistine commanders feared that David and his army would eventually betray them. Ultimately, King Achish gave in to the Philistine commanders’ demands to part ways with David. King Achish admitted that even though David had been loyal, and had done nothing wrong, he would yield to the request of the Philistine commanders. As such, King Achish ordered David to leave their territory.

Imagine how rejected and disappointed David must have felt. To add insult to injury, when David and his men returned home three days later, they found that their town had been raided and destroyed by the Amalekites who also made off with their families and belongings. The Bible says that when David and his men saw what had happened, “they wept until they could weep no more,” (1 Samuel 30, NLT). As a result, David’s men plotted to stone him. What a week? Sounds familiar?

David had every reason to give up. His mentor abandoned him. He lost his family and everything he had, and he was about to lose his life. Fortunately, the Bible said, “David found strength in the Lord his God,” (v.8).

There will be a time, in your darkest moments, when God is all you have left. There will come a time when those who once supported you have now abandoned you; the friends you used to have, are no longer championing in your corner; and the enemy has stolen everything from you. What will you do then? What did David do?

8 Then David asked the Lord, “Should I chase after this band of raiders? Will I catch them?”

And the Lord told him, “Yes, go after them. You will surely recover everything that was taken from you,” (1 Samuel 30:8, NLT)!

Identify your raiders.

Identify what they have stolen from you.

Ask God whether you should go after them.

If the answer is yes, then, the next question is: How and when?

Two key points to remember:

The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me,” (Psalm 118:6, NIV).

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds,” (2 Corinthians 10:4, NIV).

Sometimes, God wants us to physically go after our enemies. However, sometimes, he wants us to wield the weapon of prayer and/or fasting.

The Bible says that, “David got back everything the Amalekites had taken, and he rescued his two wives. Nothing was missing: small or great, son or daughter, nor anything else that had been taken. David brought everything back. He also recovered all the flocks and herds, and his men drove them ahead of the other livestock. ‘This plunder belongs to David!’ they said,” (1 Samuel 30:18-20, NIV).

Tonight, after you have wept and gotten it all out, go to God in prayer. Identify your plunder. Ask God whether you should go after the raiders. If they answer is yes, then begin to circle your circumstances in prayer, and ask God about the “how.” Place your confidence in God, and know that God is not a respecter of persons. If He did it for David, He will do it for you. Know that everything that was stolen from you will be retrieved untarnished, unharmed and unscathed. In Jesus name!

The video below that I posted is a must see. I viewed it earlier on YouTube, and it brought tears to my eyes. It reminded me so much of the passage found in Matthew 7:11:

“If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him,” (NIV)!

The video captures the young boy’s disheartenment at the thought that his father had forgotten his birthday. He was devastated. Fortunately, not only had his father remembered his special day, his dad had already prepared for him an extraordinary gift. How much more valuable are we to our God? He has a memory that never fails, and He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He has not forgotten nor will He forget about us. His promises are unfailing, His word is unshakeable. Tonight, know that God has definitely NOT forgotten about you! Enjoy the video!

What is the meaning of life? What is my purpose? These are two of the most common questions that dominate the human existence.

We all want to know that we are a part of something bigger than ourselves. We all want to leave our personalized mark on the Earth. What if I were to tell you that even though we all have different gifting, we all share a common purpose—a common calling?

One of the biggest struggles facing our humanity is man’s desire to disconnect from and exalt himself above God. As a society, we have denied God’s sovereignty. We have defied God’s authority. We have disputed God existence. Many of us fail to realized that humanity was created by God with one sole purpose: To praise and worship God. Our gifts and our talents are simply tools to bring glory to God’s name. For Christ deniers, the evidence is ubiquitous. The further we pull away from God, the more our World plummets into despair and an omnipresent sense of hopelessness. Our society needs to be recalibrated. We need to remember why we were created.

As I was writing this blog, I thought about an example that many could probably relate to. In my kitchen drawers, I have several butter knives that are bent out of shape because I have used several of them to tighten loose screws around the house. While the knives might have gotten the job done, the disfigure tips were proof that they were used out of context. The same could be said for us. Many of us are living our lives out of context. We were created to praise and worship God. Make no mistake, God will see to it that His name is praised. Romans 14:11 says, “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God,'” (NIV).

Have you ever noticed that when there is a national or international tragedy, the first thing that people do is call on God? Well, this practice is not a new phenomenon. Friends and foes of God have been calling on Him from the beginning of time. When it comes to calling on God’s name, we are either in the position of giving praise or asking for His mercy.

In Exodus, Moses was given the charge of leading the Israelites out of Egypt. The Pharaoh and the Egyptians resisted him. God allowed the manifestation of several miracles as proof that He was with the Israelites, but the Pharaoh still would not set them free. In Exodus Chapter 11, Moses delivered a dire message to Pharaoh from God. Moses told Pharaoh that God would bring death to all the firstborn son in Egypt. After death had swept across Egypt, Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron. “’Get out!’ he ordered. ‘Leave my people—and take the rest of the Israelites with you! Go and worship the Lord as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds, as you said, and be gone. Go, but bless me as you leave,’” (Exodus 12: 31-32). Pharaoh was a man who did not believe in God, but at the end, he had to confess that God is Lord. Through Moses and Aaron, Pharaoh requested that God would bless him.

Our world is in crisis. We need to acknowledge that there are powers at work that are far greater and stronger than we are in our natural state. We need to recognize that God has already sent a deliverer to save us, we just have to call on Him. We have to acknowledge that we must decrease so that God can increase. God, today we pray for our world. We submit it to your authority. We ask that you right the wrongs and bring order, peace and hope to a generation that has lost its footing. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Are you at the end of your rope? Are you stuck in a rut? Does if feel like you’ve plateaued and that your best days are behind you? What if I told you that I have five simple steps that could change the trajectory of your life? Interested? Keep reading!

They say that the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results. If that’s true, then we all have a touch of madness. Over the past year, I found myself chasing my tail in an infinite circle. I guess that was kind of redundant as circle are, by definition, infinite. Nonetheless, I was going full-throttle at 360 degrees. I found myself repeating the same question in my head: “Is there some grand lesson that I am supposed to learn that I have not yet grasped?” My prayer became, “God, let me learn my lesson and move on.” It was in that moment where I received a revelation about what it was that I needed to learn during that season in my life. What I’ve learned is exactly what I am about to share with you.

Lesson 1:

Renew your mind.

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,” (Romans 12:2, NIV). Albert Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” In other words, when our old ways and patterns of thinking have failed to produce the desired outcome, we have to adopt a new perspective. Renewing our minds is probably one of the hardest things that we could do. When contemplating change, some might argue that their old ways of thinking has gotten them to where there are. While that might be true of the past, it isn’t always a valid argument if we want to continue to grow. Growth require being stretched in new dimensions. Growth requires conquering new situations. So how do we renew or mind? One way is to increase our knowledge. Read. Study. Take classes. Meet new people. Sometimes, renewing our minds requires us to change our circle of influence—finding people who could speak life into our dreams and desires. While the path to the renewal of the mind might differ from person to person, it’s an important step in the pursuit of happiness.

Lesson 2:

Speak life into your life.

“The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences,” (Proverbs 18:21, NLT).

One of the most difficult questions to answer when we are in the midst of our trials could simply be, “How are you?” During our darkest moments, it is often difficult to find the median between transparency and wisdom. How do we truthfully say that we are “fine” when we feel as if we are being immersed by the storms in our lives? During those moments, we don’t feel fine. Sometimes, it feels as if our walls are closing in and that we are suffocating. What do we say then? I was thinking about that very question the other night. I thought about how God spoke the world into existence with His words. The Bible says that when God had completed creation, He looked over all that He had done and said that it was good. That revelation reminded me of Romans 8:28, “And we know God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them,” (NLT). Sometimes, we just have to look at our lives, despite all the difficulties and trials, and remember that “it’s all good.” Maybe the next time we are going through a trial and someone ask us how we are doing, we could honestly say, “It’s all good.” Maybe, in doing so, we could speak life into our future. This suggestion is not to minimize our pain, but simply to create a new perspective. It’s to remind us that storms do clear, and sometimes, there is even a rainbow at the end of a downpour.

Lesson 3:

Stop being a people-pleaser.

“It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in people,” (Psalms 118:8, NLT). Life is a journey, and we are all in different stages of our voyage. In other words, we all have issues and baggage, most of which are shaped by our personal experiences. One of the greatest lessons that we have to learn when dealing with each other is: Not everything is personal. We can’t always internalize other people’s behaviors. Colossians 3:23 encourages us to work as if we were working for the Lord rather than for people. As long as we do what we believe to be right in the eyes of God, then that is all that we can do. We can’t please everyone. There will always be people who are disappointment in us and by us.

Lesson 4:

Take inventory of those who champion around you during seasons of difficulty.

“One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother,” (Proverbs 18:24, NIV). Every single one of us will face moments in our lives where, when the chips are down, the only person left standing in our corner is Jesus. He is the one true friend that sticks closer than a brother. While that is true, we need to also realize that we were never meant to go the distance alone. Ephesians 4: 9-12 says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken,” (NLT). Good friends are important. The problem is that many of us have clutter our lives with “stand-ins,” but we lack the real thing. Times of difficulty are usually the best opportunity to see who is really in our corner. It’s also a good opportunity to start purging toxic relationships.

Lesson 5:

Smile!

“A glad heart makes a happy face; a broken heart crushes the spirit,” (Proverbs 15:13, NLT). In spite of it all, sometimes, the best thing we could do is smile. Earlier today, I was watching an Internet video about a woman who was elated about purchasing a Star Wars mask. She was excited about her purchase—I mean really excited. She was beyond giddy. She laughed throughout the entire clip. However, as silly as the video might have been, I could not help but laugh with her. Her joy was infectious. That’s because joy is contagious. Smiling can impact our mood, our spirit and our outlook. Our live might not be perfect, but sometimes we could soften our blows by greeting them with a smile 🙂

The divides we face should never be along racial lines. We, regardless of who we are, should always side with truth and justice. In the Bible, Jesus often spoke about showing favor and mercy to the widow, the alien, the fatherless and the poor. Many of us have fallen, or will fall, into one of those categories.

20 About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: “This is what the Lord says: Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.” 2When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3“Remember, O Lord, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.” Then he broke down and wept bitterly. 4But before Isaiah had left the middle courtyard, this message came to him from the Lord: 5“Go back to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and three days from now you will get out of bed and go to the Temple of the Lord. 6I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own honor and for the sake of my servant David.’” 7Then Isaiah said, “Make an ointment from figs.” So Hezekiah’s servants spread the ointment over the boil, and Hezekiah recovered! 8Meanwhile, Hezekiah had said to Isaiah, “What sign will the Lord give to prove that he will heal me and that I will go to the Temple of the Lord three days from now?” 9Isaiah replied, “This is the sign from the Lord to prove that he will do as he promised. Would you like the shadow on the sundial to go forward ten steps or backward ten steps?” 10“The shadow always moves forward,” Hezekiah replied, “so that would be easy. Make it go ten steps backward instead.” 11So Isaiah the prophet asked the Lord to do this, and he caused the shadow to move ten steps backward on the sundial of Ahaz!

2Kings 20:1-11

The message of today is, “Lord, Remember me!”

“Remember me, Lord, when you show favor to your people; come near and rescue me,” (Psalm 106:4, NLT).

Remember me has become the cry of a generation of Christ Followers. In Psalm 73:2-3, the psalmist said, “But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”

It is easy to look around at our world and think that God has forgotten about the promises that He has made to His people. It seems that the wicked flourish and prevail, while the righteous cower and suffer. Today, I challenge believers to remember who God is, and in our remembrance of Him, we ask that He remembers us!

While on the brink of death, Hezekiah asked God to remember him. In humility, Hezekiah pleaded with God for his deliverance from the clutches of death. How many of God’s people feel as if they are on the brink of death—spiritual, financial, emotional and/or physical? How many people feel as though God has forgot about them?

Romans 3 says that not one single man is righteous—not one.

“23For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24Yet God freely and graciously declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.25For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood,” (Romans 3:23-25, NLT).

As believer, we are made righteous, not through our own doing, but through the blood of Jesus Christ. Today, as we cry out to our Father, we should ask Him to not only remember us, but to remember His son, Jesus, and His faithfulness. We should ask our Father in Heaven to remember the promises that He made to us through Jesus.

Lord, many of your people are on the brink of all sorts of deaths, and we ask that You remember them because of your Son. God, in humility, we ask that you remember us individually as we pray to you as Hezekiah did on his death bed.

16When he [Jesus] came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. 17The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written: 18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, 19and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” 20He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. 21Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

Luke 4:16-21

In John 14:12, Jesus told his disciples that, “anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works,” (NLT). Therefore, we like Jesus, are called to the declarations of Isaiah 61:

Isaiah 61:1-3 says, “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to comfort the brokenhearted and to proclaim that captives will be released and prisoners will be freed. 2He has sent me to tell those who mourn that the time of the Lord’s favor has come, and with it, the day of God’s anger against their enemies. 3To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory,” (NLT).

Lord, I ask you to remember us because we have a job to do, which is to bring glory to your name!